VGC RMT: The Moist Men [VGC 2019 Sun Series]

[Vitamin-Z]

Hey everyone,

Haven't played competitive Pokemon in quite some time, and I'm trying to get back into it. This team below has been working decently well for me on Showdown (barring the fact that I don't know the meta too well yet, so a lot of my losses have been from horrid misplays and stupid mistakes/predictions), but I wanted to know what other people thought could make it better.

The team is (kind of) a rain team, and the movesets/EVs/items may need some work. One Pokemon in particular this team tends to have trouble with if allowed to run free is Kartana, but he's frail enough that if I play it right I can still take him out even if I don't bring Ho-oh.

Without further ado, The Moist Men.

The Team:

Leviathan (Kyogre)

EVs: 0/0/0/252/4/252
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Hasty (+Spe, -Def)
Moveset:
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

Comments: Throwback to Sapphire, one of my favorite Pokemon games and the first I bought for myself. Not much to say for this set, as it's pretty straightforward. Choice Scarf and usually either Water Spout or Thunder depending on the enemy's Pokemon. One note is that its nature is Hasty rather than Timid because I originally had wanted to add Earthquake for coverage and didn't want to sacrifice the attack power. Unfortunately I haven't run into a situation yet where Earthquake was really useful, so I might change it to Timid to give Kyogre a little more defensive bulk.

Fawkes (Ho-oh)

EVs: 220/108/76/0/4/100
Item: Aguav Berry
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Moveset:
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Recover

Comments: The EVs I stole from Pikalytics. I wanted to maintain some attack power while making it a little bulky as well. Probably the Pokemon I take least often as my 4 for VGC, but when I do bring it, it rarely disappoints. Usually has enough bulk to set up a substitute and then spam Sacred Fire and Recover for longevity.

Cyanide (Toxicroak)

EVs: 148/108/4/0/244/4
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Dry Skin
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Moveset:
- Fake Out
- Poison Jab
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch

Comments: I absolutely love that Toxicroak is viable again. Fake Out for obvious reasons, Sucker Punch for priority, Poison Jab for STAB and anti-fairy, and Drain Punch for STAB and healing. Dry Skin with Kyogre is great to give this guy some more healing power. The assault vest has definitely proved its worth by keeping Toxicroak alive when the opponent definitely thinks it should've dropped. Like Ho-Oh, I got the EVs for this 'mon from Pikalytics. Another case of preserving offensive power while giving it a little more bulk. Oh, also, I had to change Gunk Shot to Poison Jab solely because of the frustration of it missing when I REALLY need to take out a fairy.

Chalupa (Ludicolo)

EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Moveset:
- Fake Out
- Grass Knot
- Scald
- Ice Beam

Comments: Standard Ludicolo Swift Swim sweeper set for the most part. Pretty happy with this 'mon and his moveset despite not having the most bulk.

Stonewall (Rhyperior)

EVs: 252/158/0/0/98/0
Item: Expert Belt
Ability: Solid Rock
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
Moveset:
- Rock Slide
- Drill Run
- Ice Punch
- Protect

Comments: Probably the most unorthodox Pokemon I have on my team, Rhyperior has actually proved to be pretty useful. Rock Slide and Drill Run are of much greater use than I had expected, and the fact that he's so tanky with Solid Rock means that he doesn't take much damage unless it's from a grass or water type move. Unfortunately, there are a lot of grass and water type moves in the meta right now, so he is easily threatened. Even so, he's been a great help specifically with flying types. I am open to changing Solid Rock to Lightningrod, but I haven't really seen a need to yet. Expert Belt is kind of arbitrary, but I'm not sure what to change the item to. In addition, Ice Punch hasn't been used much, but I'm not sure what to change that to either. Maybe Poison Jab? Protect for when he's easily threatened and is taking away some of the heat from the partner 'mon.

Raze (Ferrothorn)

EVs: 252/252/0/0/4/0
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
Moveset:
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Comments: Bulky fairy killer and in it for the long game. Leftovers/Leech Seed/Protect is a pretty standard combo that works wonders against Pokemon that can't immediately threaten Ferrothorn with a fire type move. Gyro Ball and Power Whip for strong STAB.

 

[Bright Size]

As you mentioned, the most unorthodox Pokemon I see is the Rhyperior. It has an extremely slow Speed stat and you aren't giving it Trick Room to allow it to move first. It has an incredibly low Special Defense stat which makes it incredibly vulnerable to restricted Pokemon such as Kyogre, Xerneas, and Lunala, which are all fairly common. I don't doubt its abilities to deal with Flying types although there are more effective solutions that hit common flying types without being so slow that they likely get knocked out before they get a chance to move. As a result I would recommend Tapu Koko or Tapu Lele over this slot as they both deal with the common Flying types fairly well, namely Yveltal and Tornadus.

Here's some simple sets for the two:

Tapu Lele @ Focus Sash
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock/Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Protect

Moonblast hits Yveltal hard. Psyshock > Psychic is typically seen to do more damage to Geomancy'd Xerneas along with Amoonguss among other things. Taunt is very helpful to stop enemy team shenanigans such as Trick Room or a Xerneas Geomancy. Focus Sash allows you to tank at least one hit from a lot of the big attackers in the format that threaten Tapu Lele such as Kartana.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch/Taunt
- Protect

A simple set, it's fast and hits Flying types more easily. You /could/ run Thunder on it although I prefer not to because of Groudon often ruining the weather for Kyogre. Volt Switch is incredibly useful for board management and Taunt is good for anti-shenanigans.

In this format I like to think of Ludicolo and Toxicroak more as 'anti-Kyogre' Pokemon than rain abusers. With weather wars in Groudon and Kyogre along with the overwhelming power of other restricteds such as Xerneas, Ludicolo often can't find room to abuse the rain, similar to Toxicroak. This kind of role is very important for your team as both of your restricteds can have trouble facing off against opposing Kyogre, although I do not think it is necessary to have both of them on the same team as they fulfill nearly the same goal, especially since you have a Ferrothorn that can also deal with Kyogre. Because Toxicroak deals with Xerneas well with its Poison Jab and hits Ferrothorn/Kartana with Close Combat, I would recommend replacing Ludicolo with a Pokemon like Incineroar. Incineroar is by far the most used non-restricted Pokemon in the format, and for good reason. It does a lot for one slot on a team, having Fake Out, Intimidate, Knock Off, and the ability to U-turn out for better board management. Incineroar is often very good despite being in a format with Kyogre, Groudon, and Xerneas because of its ability to manage the board with the previously mentioned moves/ability. It will also help you more against Kartana.

Here's a sample set:
Incineroar @ Figy Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 220 SpD / 52 Spe
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out

Kyogre's a great Pokemon but your move set can be changed. Its Attack stat isn't much to write home about and you're often hurting yourself if you're not also using Ho-Oh.

Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Scald/Origin Pulse
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

You're not always going to be getting off full HP water attacks, so you'll need another Water-type move to adjust. Water Spout can be incredibly weak if you have small amounts of HP.

Alternatively, if you find yourself in bad positioning with Choice Scarf and unable to choose the move you want too often, try a non-scarf variant:

Kyogre @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Scald
- Protect

Finally I want to recommend taking Tailwind over Substitute on Ho-Oh in order to have a lot more offensive presence overall.

Hope I've helped.